Prosecutor: US, Mexico must attack smuggling woes

PHOENIX 
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard says the violent smuggling operations that bring drugs and immigrants into the United States from Mexico are a problem for both governments to confront.

Goddard told a U.S. Senate committee in Phoenix on Monday that smugglers return to Mexico with cash that fuels their operations and guns that are bought from American weapons dealers and used in Mexico's war against drug cartels.

The attorney general advocated a stronger crackdown on people who illegally buy guns on behalf of cartels and a closer examination of vehicles driving through American ports of entry into Mexico.

Goddard says another way to attack smuggling groups is to have American and Mexican authorities work together in money laundering investigations.